K-I-S-S-I-N-G
by thesilverhaireddevil
Summary: Lili is not going to let a little thing like Asuka's jibes prevent her from facing her fears.


"I can't believe you've never climbed a tree."

Asuka doesn't even attempt to hide what she thinks as she says it. She grimaces, rolls her eyes dramatically. The girl lacks subtlety.

Lili scowls, and puts her hands on her hips, staring her rival down. "Have you ever been on a yacht?"

"No but I –"

"WELL THEN." As if that's an adequate end to the subject. Lili usually has an array of patronising putdowns for such occasions, but something about this girl _rattles_ her, and her perfect composure deserts her in her presence.

"Still," Asuka muses, completely ignoring the lame attempt to shut her up, "I can't believe the girl who can buy everything has never climbed a tree!"

She makes Lili sound like it's something she should be _ashamed_ of, a childish thing like that! Infuriating.

Lili narrows her eyes. Inside her pristine white gloves, her fingers clench. She's itching to wipe that look off Asuka's face.

Asuka does it for her, surprising her with a completely genuine grin that promises adventures. "Come on! We'll climb this one together!"

Now it's Lili's turn to be dumbfounded, completely lost for words. She looks up at the tree before them. It's tall, and the branches are broad, more than enough to support their weight. That's not what worries her. The top seems to disappear into the sky in a dizzying spiral of leaves. She hesitates.

Asuka goes in for the kill. "Don't tell me you're worried about your _dress_."

That settles it. Lili tosses her blonde mane disdainfully over her shoulder, missing Asuka's gleeful look at getting exactly what she wants, _again_. The dainty white boots are kicked off, and the gloves follow them too.

It doesn't matter about the dress, she can have that made a million times over, but to have Asuka laugh at her over this? Unbelievable. _Unacceptable_.

Asuka goes first, hooking her arms around a low branch and hoisting herself up easily into a sitting position. Kicking her long, strong legs into the open air, the legs that have featured in rather too many of Lili's dreams lately, she looks down on her.

"Are you going to stay down there all day, or have you chickened out?"

Lili follows Asuka's lead, finding it not as hard as she feared. Her limbs are longer, but she's never done this before, and when her fingers slip and scrabble at the bark for a second, she can't suppress the jolt of panic that shoots through her.

She pulls herself up onto the same branch as Asuka, who's swinging her legs impatiently, eager to get on.

Lili brushes the dull scraps of bark off herself and casts a wary eye downwards. They're only three feet off the ground, but she feels a distinct unease at the thought of going up higher. Asuka stands on the branch and braces herself against the trunk of the tree.

"We'll climb to that one next."

Asuka points out a branch that looks terribly far away, and once again Lili's stomach takes a sickening lurch.

But she is proud, and she says nothing as she watches Asuka clamber easily to the branch, feet finding their way onto smaller branches instinctively, possessed with all the confidence from years of climbing and exploring.

Asuka pulls herself firmly onto the branch and sits up. Her hair is all messy.

"Come on!"

Lili somehow manages to suppress the fear now hammering away at her, and moves as if she's wading through cement. When she fights, she flies through the air, feeling free and light as a bird, sailing high in the glorious nanoseconds before a kick cuts down an opponent – but here, she is earthbound and clumsy, gravity dragging her down.

_Breathe in. It doesn't matter if you fall._

One step, then another. Asuka made it look so easy.

Asuka's saying nothing, but without looking up Lili knows her eyes are watching. What expression is in them? Is she laughing? Scornful?

Lili wills herself not to look up, and clamps her fingers around one branch, then another. Easiest thing in the world. When she fought the kidnappers, she never felt this powerless.

The branch holds steady under the arch of her foot. She pushes up…and she's there, balancing precariously for a dreadful second, before dragging the rest of herself up to safety.

She looks down, and even though she's not that far up, her boots and gloves look like white blurs against the ground. She looks away hastily.

The branch is solid beneath her, but it's shaking a bit due to Asuka lazily swinging her legs freely back and forth in the air. She looks at Asuka, clearly a little more sharply than she intended, because Asuka actually stops kicking and looks at her.

"I thought you weren't gonna make it."

Her tone is light, but she's not mocking.

"Hmph!" Lili merely grunts, only thinking of how she'll get back down.

"Were you scared?" Asuka asks, and her tone is so gentle that Lili is taken aback. The dark brown eyes are locked on hers, and she's suddenly aware of just how near they are, how the leaves hide them.

"A little. I'm not good with heights."

There it is. She sneaks a look at Asuka, wondering if she'll burst into that raucous laugh of hers…but instead Asuka looks chastened, and a little embarrassed.

"You should have said something! I wouldn't have made you climb up here if I'd known."

Lili is only thinking about how Asuka's hand feels on her arm, how the gentle breeze ruffles her dark hair, how the climb has made her heart race and filled her up with adrenaline.

"Daddy says it's good to do things that scare you."

Lili's faced one of her fears already, why not another?

"And you didn't_ make_ me do anything. I did it because I wanted to."

She flicks her hair off her face with a practiced toss of her head and leans forward, and presses her lips briefly to Asuka's. Asuka's lips are exactly as soft as she imagined them to be. Then she pulls away, and watches Asuka's face.

"Oh!" is all Asuka can say, the girl who's never normally short of words when she's shouting at Lili for a fight.

Lili doesn't think she hated it, but for a brief moment she's unsure…until Asuka's hand is on her arm again, pulling her close, and this time she's kissing Lili boldly, opening her mouth and slipping her tongue into Lili's. Lili kisses right back. She's not afraid anymore.

It feels exactly like she's wanted it to.

Shielded by the leaves they hold that pose for a few minutes, and break apart, eyes bright, cheeks flushed.

Lili's forgotten she's not standing on solid ground, and Asuka holds her steady until Lili's fingers curl around the branch again.

"Don't want you falling out of the tree," Asuka says, all sensible.

Lili looks down again, and this time she's not afraid to say it. "How do I get down again?"

Asuka smiles. "I'll show you. What's the rush? We don't need to go anywhere yet."

Lili returns the smile. It's a lot to take in, but there's no need to overthink it, really.

The hand is on her arm again. "And you don't need to worry. I won't let you fall."


End file.
